Staying power and sparkling, uplifting anthemic indie-rock
What’s the deal? The Sherlocks, a group of driven South Yorkshire youngsters, aren’t going to bowl you over on first approach with a bold, unconventional take on U.K. indie guitar-rock that’ll leave you declaring, “This is the sound of the future, right here!” or anything, but neither, on first approach, did the Libertines or the Arctic Monkeys or Glasvegas or the Kaiser Chiefs or the Kooks or any of the other U.K. indie guitar bands the Sherlocks might remind you of on first approach.
All of those acts have stuck around long enough to survive the initial hypestorm, so there’s no reason to doubt that the Sherlocks have some staying power about ’em, too. They are, as the oftrepeated bio boilerplate goes, the only other unsigned band besides the Arctic Monkeys themselves to ever sell out Sheffield’s Leadmill venue — a feat comparable to when our Toronto boys Billy Talent sold out Kool Haus when they were still called Pezz and also didn’t have a record deal. The Sherlocks also managed, after a three-year trickle of wellreceived singles, to crash into the U.K. album chart at No. 6 last August with their debut album, Live for the Moment.
It might help, when considering the Sherlocks’ big-room ethos, that this double-set of siblings from smalltown-y Bolton upon Dearne fond of big, shiny arena riffs and “Oh-oooh-oh-whoa” choruses hail from the same Sheffield environs as not just the Arctic Monkeys (or Pulp or the Human League or the Thompson Twins) but also Def Leppard.
The fact that the quartet already had its eyes on the cheap seats whilst flogging the successful, self-released singles such as “Escapade,” “Heart of Gold,” “Last Night” and, of course, “Live for the Moment” that would eventually make up the Live for the Moment track listing does, thus, have some genuine, local, geocultural precedent. Sum up what you do in a few simple sentences. “We play rock ’n’ roll music and we are going to take it all the way around the globe!” exclaims frontman Kiaran Crook. “We write anthems of uplifting music. We’re a real hardworking set of lads and people recognize this. When you come to one of our shows, you see a proper rock ’n’ roll show. Fun fact: The band consists of two sets of brothers.” What’s a song I need to hear right now? “Chasing Shadows.” The best and most sparklingly anthemic of the Sherlocks’ formative singles. Where can I see them play? At the Velvet Underground on Monday.